PROFILE
NAME: Noreen Arianne Rivera
NICKNAME: Noreen, Nor, Reenie
AGE: 27
BIRTHDATE: June 19, 1980
HOMETOWN: Hershey, Pennsylvania
LOCATION: Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, New York
OCCUPATION: Student, getting her Doctorate in Engineering Science at Columbia University; Waitress at Cain nightclub, Bartender at Maelstrom and Impulses nightclubs
E-MAIL: nar856@cs.columbia.edu
TALE: Raksha, The Jungle Book
ABILITY? She has an excellent sense of smell. She can smell things from miles away and pick and sort out different scents in her mind. She's also extremely sensitive to the smells of people and remembers people often by how they smell first before she remembers their names.
RELATION TO TALE: Noreen is quite connected with her tale. Raksha the Demon is the mother wolf and fiercely protective of her children. Noreen does the same for her loved ones, channeling the reincarnated wolf when she needs it at times. She completely embodies her Tale, no matter if it shows all the time or not. She would probably kill herself if she was completely motherly and caring ALL the time and the ferocity of the wolf makes unconditional love and care possible but with a twist. She shows extreme loyalty to those who are close to her (or part of her 'pack'). Also being one of the Modern tales means she's the first reincarnation of her tale, so her memories of Raksha are the most vivid to her, as well as the instinct of it. She's grown to accept and even like her Tale, even if it did take her a little while to have full acceptance of the fact that she's a reincarnation of a tale. She tends to be the moral support of people she cares for as well, despite not exactly being the picture of morality herself.
TALE STATUS: She's on a don't ask, don't tell policy. If you want to know what her Tale is, you either have to do some digging, or ask her yourself.
FIRST IMPRESSION: "Jesus."
PERSONALITY
Sugar, spice, and everything nice. Take out the sugar and the everything nice and you have the most accurate description of Noreen. First impressions of her often pen her off as either a bitch, or as crazy. She's opinionated, sassy, and sarcastic, as well as independent and wild. Noreen can be a blast to go out with, a crazy drinking partner, or a shoulder to cry on. You wonder amongst all that spice and sassiness where her Tale comes in, but oh it does. The thing that is most noticeable about her is how prideful and extremely independent she is. Being that she is not a reincarnation of a Princess, or anything close to that, she doesn't not suffer from what she likes to call the 'Princess complex' or the constant Damsel in Distress. It seems all the princesses she's encountered on the Compendium are always in constant need of being saved and she can't stand that. Being the reincarnation of a wolf, a female wolf at that, has made her into quite the ferocious, loyal person. When it comes to other reincarnations of a wolf, she either gets along with them or she doesn't. There is no happy medium on this one.
Never has Noreen ever been able to back down from a challenge. Pride forces her to stand up to anyone who she doesn't like and who messes with her friends and loved ones. This seems to be her ultimate downfall in nearly everything she does when it comes to friends, family and especially relationships. She has a horrific time admitting wrongs and don't even get her started on apologies. She's a highly educated person and prides herself on her intelligence, considering education is such a highly valued thing in her family. She's always tended to be more of an academic than an adventurer. Appearance wise, her looks don't seem to quite fit with her character. What are the brains of Einstein and the mouth of Courtney Love doing on a girl who looks like a sweet, innocent, and shallow cheerleader/sorority girl? She's learned over the years to play this card well, using her looks to get her somewhere she needs to be and then letting the real Noreen come out. She looks sweet as sugar but she can kick your ass in a heartbeat.
Noreen is quite complex. She often likes to think of herself an an onion, or a person with many different layers. It's what differentiates her from most and she likes to see it as having depth. Different people get to see different layers and you're privileged if you see her last layer, which is the part of her that corresponds with her Tale the most. The first layer is the outside layer, the layer everyone sees. It's the first general impression of her and it's the layer that decides whether she likes you or not. She's opinionated, never one to not keep her mouth shut and she sometimes has a problem keeping it shut. She would just rather be upfront and straightforward, rather then dancing around subjects and pretending like she likes someone when she really doesn't. If she gets a bad vibe or you make a bad first impression on her, she'll be sure to let you know and it's rare for her to change her opinion of someone after a bad first impression. She's blunt almost to the point of tactlessness, but knows when to quit. She doesn't do drama and she doesn't do beauty queens. In reality, she rarely gets along with Princesses, and tends to get along more with people who are similar to her, as well as males. She's always been more of a girl who hangs out with the guys, rather then hanging out with a group of giggling girls.
The second layer is the layer that most people see, the layer reserved for friends (but not close friends) and acquaintances. This is the core part of her, the part that draws people in to her. She has a certain attraction that people can't explain. She's sassy, sarcastic, and fun, meaning she can most definitely be the life of the party. She has that Latin spice to her that makes her able to drink up a storm. She's not an alcoholic, but she knows how to have a good time. This is also the part of her that's extremely laid-back and blase. She can have a 'who gives a shit' opinion about certain things and this attitude has been known to make people mad. For the most part, she's quite extroverted and social, unafraid to approach complete strangers. The last layer is the Tale layer, the one where her motherly character comes into play. This is reserved only for close friends and family and it's the part of her that she doesn't let just anyone see. She protects her loved ones with great ferocity and is extremely motherly, willing to do anything for her loved ones, even if it means fighting someone or something that could get her in trouble. She's the type of girl who will stay up all night with a crying friend, or bring someone who's sick home and take care of them. While this side of her she likes to keep reserved for close friends only, the motherly part of her comes out on a whim, going out to people who need caring. She won't stop and just walk by someone who's injured and her heart goes out to the poor and needy.
Relationship-wise, she's quite closed off. Most guys are turned off by her independence and sarcasm and she's turned off by most guys. Yes, if she thinks a guy is attractive, she will flirt with him, often to the point where she's leading three or four guys at the same time. On the other hand, she has yet to find someone who really sparks her interest. She's interested in guys who challenge her, who make her work, who don't use corny pick up lines and stupid romantic notions. She doesn't need a Prince Charming and doesn't want to be swept off of her feet.
FATHER: Daniel Rivera
MOTHER: Marie Eleanor Rivera, nee. Leclair
SIBLINGS: Marco Rivera, 20
HISTORY
It was a fateful day the day Daniel Rivera and Marie Eleanor Leclair met. Daniel, an aspiring architect working on a thesis was spending the summer in Paris to study French architecture while interning for an American architecture firm that had a work-study program based in France. Daniel had jumped on the opportunity immediately, taking advantage of something that could and would make him a very successful architect. It was in a tiny pastry shop that Daniel was sitting in when a group of University students came in, mostly girls. His eyes were immediately drawn to one in particular, a vivacious brunette named Marie Eleanor Leclair who was a chemistry major at the local university. So busy was he staring at her that on his way to get another cup of coffee, he tripped and fell on his face. The rest, they say, is history. The two clicked almost immediately and a two years later, they were married, Daniel sweeping his French bride off of her feet and bringing her to his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. A few years later, Noreen Arianne Rivera was born.
Noreen's childhood was quite interesting. Her father was the successful CEO of his own architecture firm that was world renown and her mother was a biochemist working at Northwest Vista University. Their family regarded education very highly and nothing less than A's were expected from young Noreen and her little brother Marco. Scoldings were given for B's and punishment for C's. The Riveras expected nothing less than perfection from their two children which eventually drove Noreen into a period of rebelliousness. Everything they said, they had to come up with logical reasoning for it, an idea of her strict French mother. The Rivera household was a serious one, though Marco and Noreen found ways to get around their strict mother. When Noreen was 11, her family moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania, her mother picking up a job as lead chemist at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. This forced Daniel to have to open up a new branch of his company that he could continue to work out of and keep in touch with his San Antonio branch. The move caused a change in Noreen. Forced to make all new friends, she became friends with people who were similar to her, intelligent but wild. She spent the rest of her middle school and high school years getting good grades but staying out late and partying. She had become an excellent multi-tasker and as long as she was keeping her grades up, her parents were too busy to worry about what she was doing weekends.
Noreen was about 13 when she was approached about being a tale. She hadn't even suspected anything. Sure, she'd had dreams about the Jungle Book, but what kid didn't dream about tales and stories they'd read. She hadn't even attributed her personality to her Tale reincarnation. She accepted it, but she brushed it off as some looney thing that no one would believe. Compendium tossed off to the side underneath her bed, it wasn't until she got older that her dreams started to get more vivid and happened more often then when she was a child. She started to make sense of everything, like the sometimes, almost animalistic urge in her to want to rip someone's throat out when they made fun of her younger brother, who had a mild case of A.D.D, causing children to laugh at him on the playground. She finally decided to give this Tale thing out a try, picking up her dusty Compendium and starting to write in it. She was in awe of the magic journal and it's little network. She was able to see other reincarnated Tales and talk to them and vice versa. It shocked her how many people were the same as her; a reincarnated fairy tale. That was so bizarre to her and completely illogical, but she came to accept and even like it, eventually.
Graduating from high school with a 3.9, Noreen turned down a free, all expenses paid four years at Dartmouth University. She didn't want to go all the way to New Hampshire. Instead of going to a college where she could've received an excellent education, she chose Philadelphia University where most of her friends went. It was in college that she gave up on her friends, who were only going through college because their parents were forcing them to. She had a sudden realization that made her realize how much she wanted to succeed and how her academian parents were right. Right then and there, she decided to buckle down, choosing to major in Mechanical Engineering. The intelligent brunette went on to work on her graduate degree at Carnegie Mellon University and it was a sudden draw of interest that made her decide to go to school in New York and check out the Pentamerone.
She lived in NYC for a little while before meeting a guy that changed her life forever. His name was Toby Hastings and it was probably their similar natures that kept them together for roughly three years, the pair even living together for a good while (and owning a dog!) before splitting because of fear of falling into a daily domestic life, leaving Noreen alone in her apartment and dogless. Unfortunately, she still carries a torch for her former boyfriend and has many unresolved feelings about him.
She is currently a dedicated student at Columbia University getting her Doctorate in Engineering Science. After this, she hopes to pick up a well-paying job and either stay in New York or move to New Orleans, a place she's always loved. She's currently juggling a few part time jobs, working as a server in a few clubs, as well as an occasional bartender. Anything to get some money in her bank account. She lives in a small, cozy loft by herself in Brooklyn and has an active Subway card, seeing as she's a struggling college student!
HEIGHT: 5'6
WEIGHT: 115
BUILD: Slender
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Brownish-black
DRESS: Girly, tight clothes and short things with heels to make her already long legs look even longer.
STATUS: Single
SEXUAL PREFERENCE: Heterosexual
TURN-ONS: Spontaneity. Passion. Fun. Good in bed. Intrigue.
TURN-OFFS: Arrogance. Guys who are clingy. Body Odor. Overzealousness.
soundtrack!
fidelity, REGINA SPEKTOR
superstar, LUPE FIASCO
time won't let me go, THE BRAVERY
lady (hear me tonight), MODJO
strict machine, GOLDFRAPP
rock & roll queen, THE SUBWAYS
vienna, THE FRAY
you're so damn hot, OKGO
PLAYER: Joy expectance
PLAYED-BY: Minka Kelly
DISCLAIMER: Not Minka Kelly. Noreen Rivera is my creation. Icons used made by icondust and puffed @ IJ, and littlepuffin @ GJ.